When selling apparel, shoes, handbags, wallets, and other merchandise, it is necessary to maintain a large number of sizes and colors for each type of item in order to sell merchandise that is appropriate to each season or the like. In situations where a size or a color is sold out or the merchandise is not appropriate for the season, the merchandise will be switched to a sales channel that is different from the normal sales channel and will be sold as special-event items and sale items.
In such a case, products either remain as unsold at individual stores, or remain as replenishment inventory at a distribution center or the like. Because these products are in various locations, they must all be collected to the distribution center first and then be re-sorted for use at special-event venues or discount stores. In addition, these products include a number of identical items. There will also be imbalances in size and color because of prior sales. Consequently, it will be necessary to correctly re-sort these products so that each product line or product group is properly allocated according to the special venues or discount stores.
FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional sorting system used for this type of sorting. The sorting system shown in FIG. 8 has an article identification device 1, a sorter 2 that has multiple chutes 4, and a controller 3. The controller 3 has an allocation count table from which an allocation count is selected based on the identification information from the article identification device 1, and a calculation means 6 that selects chutes of the sorter based upon the allocation count.
In a sorting system constructed in this manner, when an article to be sorted is entered into the system, a barcode or the like attached to the article is first read out by the article identification device 1 to identify the article that has been entered. Next, the article identification information is passed to the allocation count table 5. The allocation count table 5 provides one or more sorting destinations for each article group in the form of an associated allocation count for each chute 4, to the calculation means 6.
Based on this allocation count information, the calculation means 6 selects the chute 4 into which the article is to be dropped. Specifically, the calculation means 6 selects any of the chutes 4 whose cumulative allocation count for the article group associated with the article has not reached the allocation count provided by the allocation count table 5, and provides this information as chute selection information to the sorter 2. Finally, the sorter 2 drops the article into the selected chute 4, thereby completing a sorting operation.
When employing a sorting device constructed in this manner for sorting articles for special-event sale or special sale, the allocation counts cannot be determined unless the total number of articles to be sorted, i.e., the total number of articles in each article groups, is known. Therefore, all of the articles to be sorted must be received prior to sorting. In addition, in order to determine the total number of articles to be sorted, the articles must be sorted into article groups and the total number of articles in each group must be counted.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart that shows the sorting process when the conventional sorting system shown in FIG. 8 is employed. First, the articles are piled up and accumulated until they have all been delivered. Next, the articles are classified into groups, and the number of items is confirmed as the number of items delivered. When the confirmation of the number of items delivered is completed, the allocation counts for special-event venues and discount shops are determined according to the number of items delivered. The allocation counts are passed onto the conventional sorting system shown in FIG. 8, and sorting and allocation are performed. When the sorting is completed, the articles are shipped out.
However, the following problems exist in the conventional sorting system. The articles to be used for special-event sales and special sales are spread amongst stores, distribution centers, etc. Retail stores are spread across various areas, including remote areas. Because of this, the time it takes for the articles to be transferred will be different for each store. In many cases, waiting for all of the articles to be delivered in the sorting process shown in FIG. 9 causes the articles to accumulate for a long time. In addition, because there are normally small quantities of a large number of different items in each retail store, the unsold articles to be returned will also consist of small quantities of a large number of different items. Naturally, many different articles are sometimes returned in an indistinguishable mass.
Therefore, the step of sorting the incoming articles in the classification process shown in FIG. 9 is made quite cumbersome. Thus, the first problem with a conventional sorting system is that articles are accumulated for a long period of time because one must wait for all of the incoming articles to be delivered. The second problem is that the process of sorting the incoming articles is arduous.
In one practical embodiment, the sorting system is provided with an article identification device, a sorter having multiple chutes, and a controller that controls the article identification device and the sorter, wherein the controller is provided with an allocation ratio table, selects an appropriate allocation ratio from the allocation ratio table based upon the identification information that is output by the article identification device, and calculates the chute selection information that is to be supplied to the sorter based upon the selected allocation ratio.
By constructing a sorting system in this manner, the sorting of incoming articles can be accomplished without waiting for all of the incoming articles to be received. Confirming the number of incoming articles is unnecessary, and the accumulation of articles can be eliminated. Moreover, since the incoming articles need not be accumulated, no storage space is needed and the number of incoming articles need not be confirmed, the work of sorting the incoming products and counting the number of incoming products is reduced.
In one embodiment a random number is processed with the ratio information to provide an appropriately weighted calculation of the chute selection information, and a deviation reduction mechanism reduces the deviation of the accumulated weighted calculation results.